Future Bayswater committed to continue planning for area after industry award wins

Future Bayswater chair Paul Shanahan (centre) with fellow members at the national awards.

FUTURE Bayswater chair Paul Shanahan, who won the Planning Institute Australia planning champion award last week, says the group is motivated to continue planning for Bayswater’s future.

Mr Shanahan was awarded at the 2018 National Awards for Planning Excellence ceremony on May 9, after his group won three awards at the state awards in November.

The awards recognise leading practice, leadership and achievement in planning and the planning profession, and are spread across 12 different categories.

The group was formed in January 2016 to provide a forum for people who want to see viable investment and future development in the town centre and the precinct surrounding the Meltham train station.

In the past 12 months, the group held three visioning workshops, hosted a visit from Federal Cities Minister Paul Fletcher and attracted more than 880 locals to its home at 9 and 11 King William Street for the Beats, Burgers and Beers event.

Mr Shanahan said it was an “enormous thrill and honour” and “very humbling” to have won the award.

“To be honest, it’s an award for the whole of Future Bayswater – I couldn’t have won it without the group,” he said.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that the planning industry will play an incredibly important role in Bayswater’s (and Perth’s) future.

“A group like Future Bayswater is critical in assisting in this planning process by engaging the community in a genuine and authentic way – to get public permission.

“This award is a validation that we are on the right track and that the planning industry agree – that is incredibly motivating.”

He said the group was establishing three working groups to start work on three projects that built on feedback gathered from last year’s workshops.

“We have local residents ready to participate – it will be a genuine community effort,” he said.

“We are very disappointed in the structure plan for the Bayswater Town Centre and we will continue to advocate at the WA Planning Commission and to our State and Federal members to get this right.

“So, we (can) leverage the $84 million upgrade to the Bayswater Train Station to its maximum and ensure this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is not squandered.”

The group recently launched its Urban Regeneration Hub with Curtin University and Bendigo Bank, where architecture Masters students were working on a project based on the Bayswater town centre, which was expected to continue in semester two.